Cotton press control mechanism



19 1- J. J. WALLACE 2,267,358

COTTON PRES S CONTROL MECHANISM Fild April 10, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l W f AM Dec 23, 1941. l J. u. WALLACE COTTON PRESS CONTROL MECHANISM Filed April 10, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 II II 0 1? 42/. 7 v v T 26 45 4 5/ I8 29 n I I 720 P3 awe/whom J. J Wallace.

vention Patented Dec. 23, 1941 UNITED Z'STATESVPATENT "OFFICE- COTTON PRESS CONTROL MECHANISM Jeffrey J. Wallace, Amite, La.

Application April 10, 1941, Serial No. 387,925

4 Claims. (o1. 100--2s) This invention relates to cotton presses of the down-packing type, in which a pair of press boxes rotates in alternation between a tramper and ram for subjecting the cotton first to the tramping, then to thebaling.

It is, of course, essential that the press boxes Qshall rest firmly upon sills when the tramping or compressing is taking place, and that they I must be lifted slightly from the sills to permit turning.

It is most important that it shall not be posgsible to operate the tramper while the press boxes '1 are lifted from the sills, or while they are being turned, on account of the resultant damage to the press boxes or tramper by such operation.

1 'Another object of the invention is the provision of means for automatically breaking the driving connection of the tramper when the lift- Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawings throughout the several figures i, of which the same characters of reference have been employed to denote identical parts:

[Figure 1 is a side elevation of a cotton press unitembodying the principles of the present inv 'Fig. 2 is an end elevation;

Figure 3 is a section taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 1; V Figure 4 is a vertical section on a somewhat fenlarged scale, showing the suspension mechanism;

Figure 5 is a perspective View of one of the vertical frame membersillustrating the manual levers for operating the lifting mechanism and shifting the tramper drive.

'- Referring now in detail to the several figures, the numeral I represents the base of the cotton press unit having the vertical end frame members 2 and 3 which are preferably of similar construction, and as shown in Figure 5, are of channel shape. An intermediate post 4 constitutes a common frame member supporting the adjacent ends of the horizontal beams 5 and 6, which, respectively, constitute the supports of the hydraulic ram and the tramper, the latter instrumentalities being designated by the reference'characters I and 8, respectively. Beneath the plane of the tramper and. ram, when these members are in their raised position, is a press box frame comprising the longitudinal beams 9 and I0 and the cross beamlII, which latter is supported on a turntable I2, the latter turning on antifriction bearings upon a collar I3 slidably mounted upon the post 4. The press bOXes I4 and I5- are suspended from this frame. The press boxes normally rest upon sills It. The collar I3 which rotatably supports the press box frame is suspended by means of rods I1 and I8 from a pin I9 to which at its opposite ends are connected the identical levers 20. The levers 20 are a most important feature of the present invention. It will be noted from Figures 1 and, 4 that they are fulcrurned at the point 2I to a bracket 22 fixed to the beam 5, this point of fulcrum being to one side of the point of suspension I9, and that on the opposite side of said point of suspension the levers 20 are upheld at the point 23 by rods 24 resting upon the tops of spiral springs 25, the springs surrounding said rods and. being adjustable as to strength by means of nuts 26 which may be screwed up or down upon the threaded portions of said rods. The levers 20 are pivotally connected tothe opposite ends of a pin 21 projecting from the socketed end 28 of a link 29 which connectsto the arm 30 fixed to the middle of a shaft 3I and forming one arm of a bell crank lever, the other arms 32 and 33 being fixed to opposite ends of the shaft 3|. The arm 33 is connected by a suitable linkage which includes the rod 34, bell crank 35 and rod 36 with a hand lever 31, best shown in Figure 5. When the hand lever 31 is in the position shown in Figure 5 the'press boxes are resting on their sills, the strength of the springs 25 being almost, but not quite, sufficient to lift them. When the hand lever 31 is rotated in an upward direction, the rod 36 is pushed upwardly, the bell crank 35 rotated in a clockwise direction the bell crank arm 33, the shaft 3| and the arm 30 being rotated in a counterclockwise direction exerting an upward pull upon the levers 20 imparting sufficient additional force to the springs 25 to lift the press boxes.

It will be understood that since the point of 7 in the art, that if desired, the nuts 26 may be screwed down suificiently to increase the tension of the springs 25 to the point at which they will normally suspend the entire weight of the press boxes off of the sills. The effort of the hand lever 37 in such case will be to force the press boxes into contact with the sills against the tension of the springs 25.

By reference to Figure 1, it will be seen that the tramper driving mechanism comprises a shaft 38 having a fast pulley 39 and a pulley 40 loose on said shaft, said shaft being driven by belting 4|, from a suitable source of power. Figures 1 and show a manual lever 42 connected by a rod 43, bell crank 44 and rod 45 with a belt shifter 46 for shifting the belt from the fast to the loose pulley. When it is desired to stop the tramper, the lever 42 is moved upwards until-the notch 41 is engaged by the detent 48. For starting the tramper, the detent may be lifted by the handle 49 and thehand lever 41 dropped to itslow position shown in Figure 5.

The automatic means which the present invention provides for preventing the operation of the tramper whenever the press boxes are off of the 25 boxes, the arm 32 engages the pin 5| and moves the rod 45 in a direction to cause the shifting of the belt 4| from the fast pulley 39 to the loose pulley 40. This automatically stops the tramper long as the press boxes remain so lifted, the arm 32 will remain in the path of the pin BI and the hand lever 42 cannot be operated so as to shift the belt from the loose to the fast pulley. Only when the hand lever '31 is in fully depressed position and the press boxes are back on their sills is the arm 32 sufiiciently elevated to permit the unimpeded movement of the pin 5| -in a'direction to permit the hand lever-42 to be lowered andv the belt shifter to move toward the left, as viewed in Figure 1, shifting the belt from the loose to the'fast pulley. The tramper drive is not automatically restored to operative condition by the return of thepre'ss boxes to the sills,'but is placed;

in such condition that it may be put in operation by the manual depression of the hand lever 42. V I

While I have in the above description disclosed what I believe to be a preferred and practical" embodiment of the invention, it will be understood to those skilled in the art that the specific details of construction as shown and described are merely illustrative of other mechanicaL equivalents which could be employed without When the arm 33 moves in a counterclockwise direction for lifting the press"- The arm 32 moves in o as the press boxes are lifted from the sills. A5

transcending the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a cotton press of the type in which a pair of press boxes rotates in alternation between a tramper and ram, including sills upon which the press boxes rest during the tramping and pressing operation, and including a driving connection between the tramper and a source of power, means for simultaneously lifting the press boxes from the sills to permit them to rotate. and breaking the driving connection to said tramper.

2. In a cotton press of the type in which a pair of press boxes rotates in alternation between a tramper and ram, including sills upon which the press boxes rest during the tramping and pressing operation, and a driving connection between said tramper and a source of power, means for coupling and uncoupling the tramper driving connection, means for lifting the press boxes from the sills to permit their rotation, both of said means being so constructed and correlated as'to simultaneously lift said press boxes and disconnect the tramper coupling means to prevent the coupling operation of the first named means whenever the press boxes are off the sills.

3. In a cotton press of the type in which a pair of press boxes rotates in alternation between a tramper and ram, including sills upon which the press boxes rest during the tramping and pressing operation, and including a driving connection between the tramper and a source of power, means for coupling and uncoupling the tramper driving connection, means for lifting the press boxes from their sills to permit their rotation, a train of operating connections including a hand lever for operating said coupling means, another train of operating connections including a hand lever for operating said liftingmeans, and means moving with said second mentioned train engaging an element of said first mentioned train for operating the latter to disengage said coupling means when said lifting means is operated, and remaining obstructively in the path of said element whenever said press boxes are off the sills, for holding said coupling means operating train inoperative until the press boxes are again seated on said sills.

4. In a cotton press of the type in which a pair of press boxes rotates in alternation between a tramper and ram, including sills upon which the press boxes rest during'the tramping and pressing 'operation, means for raising and rotating the boxes including a stop member having afixed orbit during said lifting and turning movement and means for operating the tramper and ram including a power coupling device including a stop member arrangedto project into the fixed orbit of said first mentioned stop member whereby said coupling device is moved to and looked in uncoupled position upon operation of the lifting and rotating mechanism by engagement of said stop members.

JEFFREY J. WALLACE. 

